Marauderteers
by ElfFlame
Summary: The Marauders decide to visit Disneyland the summer before their seventh year. no slash
1. Getting There Is Half the Fun

So, Foodie and I decided to write a fic about the Marauders going to Disneyland. This takes place between their sixth and Seventh years. The Disney knowledge came from our own heads, particularly Foodie's recent experiences and my memories of the park in the seventies, which are quite dim, so forgive me if we got a detail wrong here or there, and also from books and online resources. Feel free to point out problems, as there was only so much we could do with these resources.

The fic was done as a round robin, with me doing James and Remus, and Foodie doing Sirius and Peter. Each chapter has the same pattern, first James's pov, then Sirius's, then Remus's and finally Peter's. Because of this, the chapters are kind of small, but we should be posting fairly frequently, since it's done.

We hope you enjoy the story, it was lots of fun to write. We have ten completed chapters, and will be posting twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) until they have all been posted. Please RR!

We do not own them, but we adore them, and we hope they had a nice time in our fair country. :D**   
**

**Marauderteers**

**By Elf Flame and Foodie **

**1 - Getting There is Half the Fun**

It was definitely one of the strangest notions Sirius had ever had. Traveling halfway around the world to go to Disneyland, of all places. Sure, it sounded interesting, but there were places closer to home to go to, really. There was the annual Hogsmeade fair that they could have gone to. There were parks and fun things to go in London or anywhere in Britain for that matter. Hell, if he wanted to go to a Disney park (though why Sirius was so dead-set on Disney in the first place gave James pause), there was always Disney World in Florida, which was at least on the American East Coast, which would have been closer to home. So why was it that he insisted on going to a Muggle amusement park halfway around the world?

But Sirius had assured him it was just what they all needed, insisting that Remus and Peter tag along, despite the fact that neither could afford it. Not that he and Sirius couldn't pay their ways, but still. James could see how uncomfortable the whole thing made Remus. It made him wonder what, exactly, Sirius had done to convince him to come along. James knew that of all of them, Remus was the one least likely to be willing to do something he couldn't afford. And he hated charity with a passion. So how was it that Sirius had convinced him? James supposed Sirius must have laid on the guilt pretty thick to convince him to come along.

So, here they were in LAX, and James was feeling lost in the sea of Muggles. Though he was normally so cool in times like these, he was finding himself feeling overwhelmed at the moment and he was definitely unsure of how to react to everything around him. It was all so new and foreign.

Sirius was grinning his head off. "Come on, mates!" he called, and started making his way through the terminal to the lines to have their passports (magiked up by Sirius, of course) checked and stamped, and their duffles gone through to check for contraband.

By the time they made it to the car rental agencies, James felt wrung out. And they still had to find a car (another thing that was making James leery. Sure, Sirius could drive, but even so, he'd only just learned, and he didn't really have a license, just a few hours of practice with Remus's cousins' old pick-up. And the one time James had ridden with Sirius in it, he'd nearly wrapped them around a tree.). At least they had enough money to spare. The Galleon-to-Pound exchange rate was amazing, and the Pound-to-Dollar was even better.

James watched as Sirius slung his arm around Peter's shoulders and the two boys hurried towards a Hertz-Rent-A-Car booth. Sirius was heavily engaged in flirting with the girl at the counter when James and Remus finally reached them.

"So, I'll need to see your license, sir," the girl at the counter said, smiling and blushing as he brushed his fingers across her hand.

"Of course," he grinned. Sirius had obviously turned on the charm. And the girl was blonde. Sirius always went for blondes, so James knew he was having no problem pouring on the charm for this girl. "Hold on a tic." He turned and pulled a small card from his bag, surreptitiously waving his wrist with his concealed wand over it and muttering what James was sure was an illusion charm. "Here it is," he said, turning back to her and handing it to her with a broad smile.

"Thank you," she simpered. She took a look at the faked card, and then handed it back to Sirius before shuffling through a file in front of her. "Well, I suppose you'll want something to seat four?" her bright blue eyes scanned their little group, then she turned back to Sirius.

He nodded. "That would be lovely. Though I'm sure we could fit into a sports car, if you have one?" he grinned.

James groaned. He knew how small some Muggle sports cars could be. He certainly didn't want to sit in a cramped car all the way to Anaheim with Peter sitting in his lap and Remus squeezing his knees between their seats.

Sirius's smile widened as the agent pulled a slip of paper out of her file. "I have just the car, sir..."

* * *

Sirius grinned as the car zoomed down the highway towards Anaheim. He'd enchanted it to get them to the hotel without needing a map, which was a good thing because he had no idea where they were going in the first place. He knew that Disneyland was in Anaheim, but that was the extent of his knowledge. 

He was quite surprised though at the large amount of traffic on the road this time of the afternoon. Four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, who knew there would be so many people trying to get from one place to another in Los Angeles? It was crazy.

He was glad he'd been able to get a fire-red convertible from the girl at the car rental place, but even more glad that he'd thought to age himself on the ID card he'd showed her. Most car rental places wouldn't rent a car to anybody under 25 years of age, and Sirius was impressed with himself that he'd been able to pull it off. She hadn't questioned it at all.

The ride took over an hour. They passed palm trees, which they'd only seen in pictures before, and beaches with people surfing in the warm July water. The landscape looked completely different from home. Sirius had always heard the States were full of crazy, out of control people who lived in concrete towers, and he saw now that it wasn't far from the truth. He looked wondrously at the long stretches of highway and the vastness of the cities and tall buildings that looked as though they were made of solid glass and steel, and wondered exactly how many people lived there. He was utterly amazed at the size and scale of it all. It made him really glad he'd decided on coming to Disneyland in the first place. He wouldn't have missed seeing LA for anything.

When he'd been thinking about where to go for a holiday, Sirius had wracked his brain for places that he'd never been to before; particularly places his family would deign too Muggle or peasant to be willing to visit themselves. They thought the States was a country full of rude, imbecilic ruffians. Of course, their opinion of the country only made Sirius want to travel there that much more—if just to spite them.

In all of his research of interesting places to go in the States, he'd made sure to look into Muggle holiday destinations as well as wizarding ones. Disneyland had stood out in his research. It sounded like a great place for him and his mates to go without their families. Particularly because he knew he and his friends would have a great time on all the rides and attractions there.

It had taken some time to convince the others to go with him, but in the end, they'd agreed to come because it would be one of the last times they'd be able to have fun and adventures in their carefree young lives. After the next year of school, they'd all go off and have to get jobs and flats. The fact that they would start living separate lives, saddened Sirius as he looked around at the best friends he'd ever had. He wanted things to be always as they were right now. The best friends each other had ever had. Realizing he was starting to depress himself, he turned on the radio and tapped his fingers along to the beat of the song on the radio as they made slow progress down the freeway.

The hotel Sirius had chosen was called "The Jolly Roger Inn." It just had a ring to its name. How could he resist staying in a place with a name like that? How cool was a place called the Jolly Roger Inn? After all, pirates were damned cool. When he glanced over at Remus, he noticed the look of dismay on his friend's face. "We're staying at a place called 'The Jolly Roger Inn?'" he asked, climbing out of the back seat of the car.

Sirius reached a hand out for Remus to take. "Aw, come on, Moony. It's not that bad. I mean, it could have been called the Slyther-Inn..." Sirius doubled up, laughing at his own joke. Remus chose to ignore him, and picked up his suitcase, then walked towards the inn.

James had already jumped out of the car and was looking around. "Wicked cool, mate!" he grinned while grabbing his bags. Peter scrambled out of the car before staring in silence at the place, not sure what to make of it.

Sirius just shook his head. Well, at least someone else appreciated the effort he took in finding the place. He followed after Remus, who was almost at the main entrance. "All right mates, let's go in!" he called back to James and Peter.

* * *

Remus rolled his eyes. Sirius couldn't do anything halfway. At least they couldn't stay here longer than a week. When Sirius had convinced him to come, he had promised him that they would be back at least half a week before his transformation, so that he wouldn't need to worry about hurting anyone here. Not that the Muggles in LA would have believed he was a werewolf...most likely, they would assume he was filming something. Right up until he tore them to pieces. Remus shuddered at the thought, and hurried into the building. 

Once inside, when he looked for the trappings he was sure a place called "The Jolly Roger Inn" would have, there did not seem to be any. It seemed fairly normal, really, with tasteful decorations. Chairs and tables for visitors to sit at while they waited for friends or cars, and plants that simply made the place look serene. However, Sirius was less pleased. While Remus was letting out a sigh of relief, Sirius had entered behind him, and was beginning to frown.

"This is 'the Jolly Roger?' Looks like a regular hotel to me. Where are the pirates? Or at least the skull and crossbones? And I wanted to see parrots, damn it!"

James cuffed him on the shoulder. "Oh, do calm yourself, Padfoot. I'm sure it will be fine." He stepped towards the counter to get them a room as the other three looked around.

Though the décor of the place relieved him, Remus still felt out of place. It might not be a swank hotel, but the people he saw passing by all looked comfortably well-off, even if they didn't look wealthy. He sighed. At least in Muggle clothing he didn't look quite as shabby as when he wore wizarding robes. Everyone here seemed to be wearing t-shirts and jeans, or even more likely, shorts. And he couldn't blame them. It was California, after all. And even though the sun had already set, it was still a tad warm. Well, once they got to their room, he'd change.

James returned with the keys to a couple of rooms. Two bedrooms, each with a set of double beds, and an adjoining door. Remus sighed again. He'd probably get stuck with Peter as usual. After all, they all knew just how much he snored from six years of sharing a dorm with him. Even Sirius walking in his sleep (something he only did when he was very stressed) would be preferable.

* * *

Peter looked around nervously. This was his first time in the States. People moved around so quickly here, much faster than back home. He'd almost been trampled a couple times in the airport, and the car ride down to Anaheim had been far faster than he'd been comfortable with. Sirius must have been driving almost ninety kilometers an hour! Peter had been sure he'd not make it to the hotel in one piece. In fact, there had been a few turns where he had been sure that the car was about to overturn. At least he had his best mates to keep him company in this strange land. 

He and Remus ended up sharing a room together. This was fine with Peter, though Remus did have the tendency to growl in his sleep quite often, which always unnerved him. At least he was more subdued than the other two boys, who were more than likely to short sheet Peter's bed, or something equally cruel.

Once the four boys had unpacked, they decided to walk around and find someplace to eat, since they wouldn't be going to the park till the next day. They passed a Chinese food place, but Peter nixed that because he didn't want to try that kind of food. The next place they found was a small Indian restaurant, but Remus said the food was too spicy for his tastes. Sirius frowned at this, but they continued on their way. There were a few diners and places with American style food, but none of this appealed to any of them.

Finally, after a short walk, they found a small Italian restaurant that sold pizza by the slice, which none of them could find fault with. Each boy bought two slices and carried them to a sticky table where they proceeded to eat and laugh until they were so full they thought they'd bust open. "I can't believe I'm eating in a place as filthy as this," Peter said while they ate.

"It's not so bad," Sirius replied while shifting in his seat and lifted up his foot, which turned out to have a wad of bubble gum stuck to the bottom of it. "Well, maybe it is that bad," he winced, as he tried to scrape the remainder of the gum off his shoe.

"Just take a shower when you get back to the room. It's so hot here that we'll all probably need one anyway just to get cool enough to sleep," Remus said.

"They have air conditioning in our rooms. I've heard about that kind of thing from Muggleborns at school. It's kind of like a cooling spell. We'll be able to be as cool as we want," James informed his friend, grinning. Remus looked pleased to hear this, and nodded his head. Peter wondered if Remus was as pleased by the idea of not being too hot to sleep as he was.

It was several more hours before the boys finally went off to bed. Peter didn't sleep too well that night. Perhaps it was having eaten so much food, or that the food had been too spicy, or simply being in a new place. Whatever caused it, he ended up tossing and turning for most of the night. In spite of that though, he was excited and energized by the time his mates were awake the next morning, and by the time they had gotten themselves ready for the long day ahead, he had been up for at least two hours.

The group stopped at the nearby diner for a quick breakfast, which they wolfed down before walking across the car-park to the Disneyland gates.

Peter couldn't help grinning as he saw the sign beckoning them ever closer: "Welcome to Disneyland the Happiest Place on Earth" it read. Waving banners atop a castle were set on top of the words. It reminded him a little of Hogwarts, being castle-shaped and all. It didn't really resemble the school so much as it made him think of Hogwarts. There was definitely a magical feeling to this park, and Peter hadn't even made it through the car park yet!


	2. An Exciting Start

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Freakyfairy** – glad you liked it. Hope you enjoy the second chapter as much.

**2 - An Exciting Start**

James was astonished at the gaudiness of the place. Sure, it was Muggle, but even they had a sense of aesthetics, didn't they? Outside the main entrance was a large grassy area with a huge mouse's head made out of flowers. Whole families stood in front of the head and snapped picture after picture with their cameras before walking into the park. He wondered if Sirius would force them to do the same thing.

Sirius was already barging towards the ticket window, Remus in tow, as they had all agreed that he would carry all the tickets, since he would be the least likely of them to lose them. James checked around for Peter, and found him gaping around at the scenery, and all the people. He looked a bit like he was going to wet himself, really.

"Pete!" He strode over to the other boy and flung an arm around his shoulders. "What do you think of this monstrosity, eh?"

Peter's pale eyes blinked up at him. "Its...bloody great," he grinned. "I never knew the Muggle world could be this cool!"

James smiled, and then turned to see where Remus and Sirius were in the line. There were only two people ahead of them now. "Come on, Pete, let's go stand by the turnstile and wait for Moony and Padfoot, okay?"

Peter nodded, his smile still a bit uncertain, but stuck on, as though he was determined to enjoy himself today, no matter how terrified he was. The other two Marauders joined them a few minutes later. Remus handed them each their entrance tickets, then tucked the ride tickets into his bag.

Sirius was literally bouncing. "We got a map, and there's this place called Adventure Land. We have to go there first, mates!"

James grinned as they joined the crowd going through the turnstiles. Sometimes Sirius was just irrepressible.

* * *

Sirius had always had a flair for the exotic things in life. The list of rides and attractions in Adventure Land seemed right up his alley. He made a mental note to eat lunch at the Tahitian Terrace—they had authentic Tahitian dancers there. 

The boys walked down Main Street, USA and took in all the sights. There were several multi-coloured facades of old fashioned buildings up and down both sides of the street. which housed stores and restaurants as well as an arcade. It was all fascinating and amazing to look at, and while he wanted to see everything, first Sirius really needed to see Adventure Land. There was a Jungle Cruise ride and some place called "The Tiki Room," and it all sounded like so great.

When the foursome reached Sleeping Beauty's Castle—a far cry from Hogwarts, but cute in a Muggle sort of way—they turned to their left and saw a sign that said "Adventure Land." There were trees with large leaves and exotic looking plants all around them as they entered and walked down the cement path. Directly to their left was the Tiki Room, which Sirius insisted they go to. The show started in ten minutes, so they waited in the covered sitting area set up outside the building. There was a fountain in one corner, and odd carved statues that Remus told them were called "Tikis." Suddenly, one of the Tikis began to speak, and soon the others joined in. Sirius frowned. "Is this the show?" he whispered to James, who shrugged. Then the doors opened, and they hurried into a much larger room, and scrambled to find seats.

Inside the room it was dark. There were more tikis placed all over the walls here, and soon music began to play and large parrots of varying colours on swings were lowered from the ceilings. Their mouths opened and closed in time with the words to make it appear as though they were singing the obnoxious songs. As the show went on there were exotic flowers that moved and more songs and jokes. None of the moving things were real, and they didn't really look real either, but they were amusing to watch. The show was funny as well, in a corny way, but Sirius and James laughed out loud several times and clapped along with the rest of the crowd while Peter sat in utter silence and Remus kept shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

When the show was over, the boys spilled out of the room and talked it over.

"Those parrots were so cheeky!" James laughed, "'Si, so low we can't hear you!'" he quoted in a terrible Mexican accent like the one the parrot who'd said that line had used.

"That bloody song is going to be stuck in my head all day now!" Peter cried while clutching his hands to his ears as though trying to block out the memory of the music.

"That was so much fun!" Sirius cried, grinning wildly. "What's next?"

They consulted the map, and soon agreed on the Jungle Cruise.

* * *

The Jungle Cruise was little better than the Tiki Room had been, in Remus's opinion. More fake animals, though these at least did not sing. The tour-guide's running commentary was ridiculous and obvious. But Peter seemed to be relaxing, at least. He even laughed at some of the stupid jokes. 

At one point, they passed by a waterfall, which the tour guide pointed out. Then, later, they circled around the waterfall and went under it. The tour guide pointed it out again, this time with one of the many bad jokes. "There it is, folks. Something you've always wanted to know what it looked like: the backside of water." Both Peter and Sirius were in stitches at this comment, and it made Peter laugh until tears rolled down his cheeks.

James and Sirius seemed to be enjoying themselves as well. They had been shouting responses to the rhetorical questions of their guide from about two minutes into the ride, each answer more outrageous than the last. The others in their boat were beginning to glare at them, and finally, Remus cautiously cast a silencing spell on the two of them, just to keep them quiet.

When they disembarked, Remus made sure to lead the way, but it was only moments before Sirius caught up with him. The glare held Remus in place for several minutes before he gave in. "Fine, Padfoot. As long as you and Prongs promise to remember that there are other people trying to enjoy themselves here as well." Sirius rolled his eyes, but nodded, and Remus looked around, and then quickly cast the counter-spell while no one was looking.

Peter was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Where to next, Padfoot?"

Before Sirius could respond, though, James piped in. He had the map, and was pointing at something. "I think we should go see this haunted house. Sounds great," he grinned. "I bet they give the Hogwarts ghosts a run for their money."

Sirius pouted. "Aw, Prongs, I wanted to go to Tahitian Terrace for lunch!"

Remus laughed. "We've got hours till then, Padfoot. Come on. I've also heard good things about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride."

Sirius perked up at that. "A pirate ride? Where's that? I missed that one!"

* * *

Peter was unsure about going on a pirate ride. Would there be real pirates? But his friends were all excited and began to walk off in the direction of the ride, so he went along with it. They walked along a path with something called The Rivers of America on one side. It was a huge body of water, at least as big as Hogwart's lake, with an island in the middle and had boats and ships sailing up and down the waters. When they rounded the path, they came across an archway with a sign overhead, which lead them into a building. 

They walked under the arch and saw more water flowing in a lane next to them. They had to wait about ten minutes for their turn and during that time they made comments about the sights around them. "Did you see that crab? It was moving!" James pointed out to one of the displays when they'd first entered the building.

"I wonder if all the gold is real," Sirius said, looking like he was calculating over whether to nick some from the display or not.

"I doubt it, Padfoot," Remus replied while rolling his eyes.

"You don't think they'll make us walk the plank, do you?" Peter squeaked.

"Probably, but don't worry Pete, we'll make sure they make you walk the plank first!" Sirius cried before breaking into a loud fit of laughter.

The four boys were finally seated in a boat that floated freely on the water and after a few minutes when the boats were full, the ride started.

Peter actually managed to relax as the boat floated lazily down the river and passed by a run-down shack with a man playing the banjo sitting in a rocking chair and cheery fireflies sparking in the sky. The tune playing on the banjo was slow, lazy, and soothing to Peter's nerves. On his other side were the chairs and tables of a now-empty restaurant. This didn't seem so bad.

The boats continued to go down the river before coming to an archway. A harsh voice called out to them from out of nowhere, and as they suddenly plunged down into the darkness, Peter heard the haunting voice call after them "Dead men tell no tales..." He couldn't help but scream in terror as he fell uncontrollably in the dark. It made him feel a little better to hear Sirius, who was sitting next to him, screaming as well.

Finally they reached the bottom and hit the water, which soaked them thoroughly. The ride picked up from there. The water was flowing much faster, so the boats picked up their speed, rounding corners quickly and splashing more water inside as they went. They passed through caves full of golden hoards of treasure and skeleton after skeleton, and all the while, singing wafted through the rooms. "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..." It seemed to be repeated ad infinatum.

Soon they came upon a city that was being plundered. It was on fire. Women were being chased by cruel pirates and a man was being dunked over and over again in a well by pirates. There was a firefight between two ships that the passengers of the ride were caught in the middle of. There were men desperately trying to get out of prison by tempting a dog who had the keys to their cell in his mouth. They held out a bone to the dog and whistled to gain its attention and affections in order to entice it closer to them, but to no avail. The dog never moved any closer to them, in spite of their best efforts.

Seeing this, James nudged Sirius. "That'll be you someday, mate, if you keep going the way you do."

Sirius smirked. "Which one? The dog, or one of the men in the cell, Prongs?"

After that, there was a gunfight in a room with kegs of gunpowder where the boys were forced to stop for several minutes as the boats in front of them began to be pulled up a ramp to the top of the ride. Finally, their turn came to be lifted up the ramp and they were able to disembark from the boat and return to the safety of the outdoors once more.

Peter had never been so glad to get away from somewhere before.


	3. Many Adventures

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Undomiel2007** – Glad you like the idea. We had a ton of fun writing it. Hope you enjoy the rest.

**Cam** – Because when you're a werewolf, what money you do make goes into savings for when you have no job, and I would assume that would be true of a family hiding a werewolf child as well. They'd be unlikely to stay anywhere for long, because the neighbors would notice the noise of a werewolf eventually. Basically, I can't imagine anyone who became a werewolf would have huge cash resources, even if they did have money, they'd be frugal.

**3 - Many Adventures**

"Okay, Padfoot, now let's go to the Haunted Mansion," James called as he moved quickly through the crowd. The ride was in what appeared to be a huge old house. It was slightly dilapidated, but put him in mind of some of the Pureblood homes he'd visited with his folks as a boy. The line for the ride was long, so the foursome stood and talked as they waited, planning where to stop next. Peter wanted to see what a "Dumbo" was, and Remus wanted to check out the Alice in Wonderland ride. Sirius was going on about the Matterhorn, and James had to agree with him. It had looked impressive even from Main Street where they had seen it upon entering the park. The only other edifice in the park that was as impressive was the castle.

Finally, after a quarter hour, the foursome gave their tickets to the ticket-taker, and followed the rest of the crowd into a small room. There were pictures on the wall, but nothing seemed particularly scary. James assumed that their guide would meet them here, and lead them through the house, or something. Though where the guide would take them was anyone's guess, as there hadn't been any doors along the hall they'd come in through, and the door they'd come through was the only one to the room. Then the doors to the room were shut, and a voice came out of nowhere.

Peter squeaked in fright, and trod on James's toe. "Shush, Pete. It's just a ride."

The voice continued to speak, telling them how haunted the house was, and then began to speak about the pictures on the walls, which James now noticed were getting longer, eventually showing the occupant of each picture in be in mortal peril. "Is this haunted room actually stretching?" he heard the voice say. Then suddenly there was a shriek, the lights blinked, and there was a flash of lightning. James looked up, and felt Peter jump against him. There was someone hanging from the ceiling. The voice spoke again. "There's always my way…"

Maybe this was a bit much for Peter, James thought to himself. Oh, well, even if it was, it was too late now.

A new door on the opposite side of the room opened, and now they were in a different hall, lined with creepy paintings that would change depending on where you stood. James was used to magical paintings, which could move about at will, but this was nothing like that. These were Muggle paintings. How, exactly, had they managed it? It was ingenious.

They soon found themselves in another line, and James and Peter ended up in a carriage together. The carriage moved through the house, and James was amused by the tricks they'd used to make the house seem haunted. The wallpaper was painted to look like eyes—it rather reminded him of Sirius's folks' house, actually. There was a window looking down on a ballroom filled with what the voice told him were ghosts, though they looked nothing like the ghosts he knew. Nick would have blown them all away with his fancy footwork.

There was also a woman's head gazing out from inside a crystal ball. Her eyes were huge, and she had great poufs of pale hair floating around her face. She was talking in an ethereal voice, and James chuckled, thinking that Thanos would have sneered at this. He always made sure to tell the students how "dignified" the noble art of Divination was, and that its poor image was due to some of the crackpot women who insisted on playing up the "spooky" image, rather than actually working on looking to the future.

Then there was a graveyard, with singing ghosts, and every kind of ghoulie the Muggles could come up with. Finally, they passed in front of mirrors as the voice told them to watch out for hitchhiking ghosts. Peter shrieked in terror when the mirror showed a ghost sitting between them. James just rolled his eyes.

* * *

Sirius was having the time of his life. He'd never known Muggles could be so cool. 

The group decided that there was time for one more ride before they needed to go to lunch. "Where should we go next, mates?" he asked curiously.

"I saw there was a multicultural ride here. It's called "It's a Small World." We could go there," Remus suggested.

"I still want to see what a Dumbo is," Peter exclaimed as he shifted from foot to foot to work off his nerves over the Haunted Mansion ride.

"There's a fast-paced ride called the Mad Tea Party. It's based on Alice in Wonderland," James piped in.

"Oh, I like the sound of that one. Let's go on that!" Sirius declared as he looked at the map to find where the ride was. "All right, if we turn back around we can go all the way back through New Orleans Square and cut through Frontier Land back to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Once we go through that we're into Fantasy Land and it's part way into that. Let's go," he cried, blazing a trail through the crowd that the three other boys quickly walked through.

It took a while to get there, and when they hit the line, the boys got a chance to see how the ride worked before getting on. People sat in gigantic tea cups and saucers that whirled around quickly around in jerking motions on the platform. The cups were also controlled by a wheel that the riders could turn to move it around in circles at the same time as it was moving around. Peter covered his mouth. "Oh, I know I'll get sick if I go on that one," he murmured before slowly backing away from the boys in the line. "I'll just stay and watch you guys go, OK?"

Sirius was about to protest, but didn't want Peter to get sick on anybody, least of all himself, so he kept his mouth shut and shook his head in wonderment over how Peter managed to function normally on a daily basis. They moved through the line quickly and soon enough, the three boys were sitting in their own bright orange tea cup, with a saucer at their feet for support.

Loud music started at the same time as the ride did. James and Sirius attacked the wheel quickly and soon they were whirling around in tight circles and moving back and forth in between all the other cups and saucers. Sirius started screaming and laughing as they were whipped around. James cackled while Remus turned slightly green. After several minutes, the ride stopped and the boys stumbled over to where Peter was standing waiting for them.

Sirius was a little dizzy and came to lean on Peter for support. It was then that he noticed a large pair of black ears on Peter's head. They were sewn into a sort of red hat that had his name embroidered on it. "What the hell is that, Peter?" he asked, pointing to the hat.

"Mouse ears," Peter grinned, "I bought them while you guys were on the ride. So, ready for lunch?" he asked wickedly, noticing how green all three of his friends were.

* * *

As they waited to be seated for lunch, Remus listened to Sirius grumble about "Damned prejudiced mouse-lovers. He'd tried to buy his own set of ears—dog ears, of course—but they hadn't been able to find a single pair anywhere. They'd scoured every gift shop between Fantasyland and Adventureland, and there had been nothing. One of the clerks had mentioned something about "Pluto ears," but Sirius had shaken his head. "No, Dog ears, not planet ears!" 

They had made their way to the Tahitian Terrace, and were led into an open-aired pavilion, then were sat at a table just big enough for the four of them. They ordered their lunch, and chatted while they waited for the show to start. Remus pulled out their tickets. "We're starting to run a little low on tickets, blokes. Do we want to buy more after lunch?"

James shrugged. "It can wait until we don't have the kind of ticket we need, really."

Sirius nodded. "Let's not waste time until we have to."

Peter began chattering on about the ghost who had been in his and James's carriage at the Haunted Mansion, and how he'd checked out the Dumbo ride. "It turns out a Dumbo's an elephant. A flying elephant!" he crowed.

Sirius snorted.

"And exactly how does an elephant fly, Peter?" Remus asked quizzically.

Peter's eyes grew big. "With its ears, mate. They had these huge ears—" he held out his arms to either side, nearly knocking over a couple sitting down nearby, "—and it flies with them stuck straight out!"

Sirius guffawed at this. "A flying elephant? What does it use for a rudder? Its tail?"

Before Peter could explain, the lights went down around them, and soon they were enraptured watching the show. Sirius even more than the others. Remus had to restrain him several times when some of the female dancers went past. The second time, Sirius growled at him and pushed him away, slapping his hand. The two wrestled for a moment, engaging in a good-natured slap-fight. Then Sirius, realizing he was missing the show, leaned back to enjoy the rest, ignoring his friends once more.

Once the show was over, they stumbled from the table and exited back out into the park. They now had full stomachs and plenty of plans to help finish off the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

Peter had enjoyed the Tahitian dancing show a lot. He was still walking around with his head in the clouds when the next vote was taken of where to go. 

"What about Peter Pan's Flight?" he heard James say.

"No, let's go on the Pinocchio ride," Remus suggested.

"Let's go on the Snow White ride, she's pretty hot, for a drawing," Peter looked up to see Sirius leering over the picture on the back of the map.

This finally snapped Peter back to attention and he added his opinion. "How about Tom Sawyer's Island? They have a cave there," he suggested.

"There's an interesting looking attraction on Main Street called 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln'," Remus suggested hopefully. "I've read lots of things about him. He was one of the greatest men in American history. He fought for the end of slavery," he explained.

Sirius made a face. "That sounds interesting, but not too lively. What about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?" Sirius suggested.

"What about that Small World ride Remus suggested earlier? It would be neat to see people from all over the world," James said. With a little more discussion, the four boys agreed on the Small World ride and made their way over to it.

The outside of the ride looked amazing. There was a smiley face that rocked back and forth and made tic-toc noises like a clock. Every quarter hour, a small parade of children-sized dolls dressed in different clothes from around the world circled the front of the ride. The building itself was made of quirky squares and rectangles in shades of pink and white that looked as though they'd been haphazardly thrown together to make a solid façade. The boys boarded another boat and soon they were sailing into the ride.

They could hear the music from outside and it grew louder as they entered the building. Small puppets dressed up from different countries around the world danced and moved their mouths to the song. It was a bit unnerving, as was the music, which kept replaying over and over again. "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears…"

And the ride seemed to go on forever. Peter looked over and saw James beginning to nod off. Lucky bloke, he thought to himself.

When the ride finally finished, the boys couldn't get off the boat and as far away from the ride as they could fast enough. Peter knew he would have that bloody song stuck in his head for the rest of the day. "Please, wherever we go next, make sure it doesn't have any songs!" he cried to his friends as they voted on where to go next.

Sirius grinned wickedly, telling Peter, "At least you won't have to hear that Tiki Room song in your head anymore!"


	4. Breaking Up Isn't Hard to Do

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Cine (loves Sirius** – Glad you like it. Eurodisney wasn't opened until the nineties, so they wouldn't have been able to go there. And Sirius wanted to get as far from his family as he could. What better place than California?

**4 - Breaking Up Isn't Hard to Do**

James had Remus do a count, and they found they had enough E tickets left over to get them all on the Matterhorn, so the four friends moved to the end of that line. This one was at least as long as the one they had stood in to get into the Haunted Mansion.

Peter shivered. "This one isn't scary, is it?" he asked James as they waited.

Sirius cuffed him on the shoulder. "You're such a worry-wart, Pete! God, no wonder you're a rat…" James nudged him hard in the stomach at that, and Sirius let out an "Oof," then tackled him. "Maybe you're the one who should have been the rat, Prongs!" The two scuffled for several minutes before looking up to discovered that they had been left behind, and Peter and Remus were now nearly at the head of the line, with several other people who had been brave enough to bypass the two boys waiting behind them. James and Sirius hurried forward, but ended up several cars behind the other two Marauders.

Now this was a great ride, James thought to himself. The car they were in took off with a jerk, and before they knew it, they were flying up the tracks. The car zoomed along the track, shooting up and down and making sudden turns. It was great. It was almost like being on a broomstick, James thought. Sirius whooped and screamed through the entire ride, and was nearly hoarse when they disembarked.

"I need a drink after that," he croaked. They hurried through the exit, and over to where they could see Remus was supporting Peter. Peter looked green.

"You okay, Pete?" James asked.

Peter began to nod, then stopped quite suddenly, looking even greener than before. "I don't think I should move much for a while," he moaned softly.

Remus rubbed his back. "You'll be okay, Wormtail. You just need to sit for a bit."

James looked about and noticed a food stand nearby. "Why don't we go sit over there and relax a bit, and give Peter time to recover?"

Remus and Sirius both nodded, and Remus supported Peter as they made their way across the path. Remus and Peter settled onto seats while James and Sirius went to get some snacks and sodas. They returned with their arms full, and the quartet proceeded to eat heartily.

* * *

Once the boys had finished their snacks, Remus insisted on a quiet attraction or ride to help soothe their stomachs some more. After some debate, they trudged off to Main Street to go to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. 

The theatre was dark and air-conditioned, which was a lovely respite from the sweltering heat of the Southern California afternoon sun. The show itself was quite touching, with quotes and letters by Abraham Lincoln read while images of the Civil War and the president were shown on a large screen in the centre of the room. At the end of the show, the screen was lifted and there was Abraham Lincoln, sitting in a chair in front of them. He'd been narrating it all along. Sirius was amazed to watch as the president slowly stood up and spoke stirring words to the crowd. He'd never seen anything like it before.

Sirius glanced over at Remus during this and wondered what he thought of all this. The Wizarding World had their own prejudices against people they felt were "lesser" beings, such as werewolves.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," Lincoln said, addressing the audience. Sirius wondered if someday the people in the wizarding world would manage to have the same attitude. Then maybe people like Remus wouldn't have to live their lives in fear of what people would try to do to get rid of them. But if so, "someday" seemed pretty far away.

By the time the foursome trickled out of the theatre, they were subdued over the touching experience, but none more so than Remus. "He fought for people. He fought for people that others looked down upon and thought of as inferior," he whispered in a choked voice.

Sirius reached out and patted his friend's back. He knew this must have been quite a powerful experience for Remus. It wasn't every day that he heard someone outside his circle of friends say he deserved more than what he was getting out of life.

Once Remus had collected himself, Sirius suggested they go to the arcade and play some of the games there. The group walked across the street to the penny arcade and had fun playing games, watching tiny moving picture shows, and having their fortunes told to them by mechanical gypsies for over an hour before growing tired of it

Sirius had laughed over his fortune that had been written on a small piece of paper and came out of a slot in the machine. "You will live a life of hardship if you continue on your current path," it read. Ah, Muggles, he chuckled to himself before crunching up the paper and tossing it over his shoulder without another thought.

* * *

When they had had their fill of the arcade, Sirius was back in action. He insisted they head into Tomorrow Land, and try out the Mission to Mars ride. Peter looked at Remus beseechingly, but when Remus tried to suggest they find something tamer, James threw his arm around Peter's shoulders. "Aw, come on, I'm sure it won't be that bad. You aren't scared, are you mate?" 

Peter shot a last horrified look over his shoulder at Remus as James dragged Peter off after Sirius. Remus sighed. Well, maybe James was right and it wouldn't be so bad. Sirius led them to a building with a sign reading "Mission to Mars" on it, and the group went inside. There was a large waiting room there, and Remus was almost reminded of LAX and some of the waiting areas they'd passed there on the way to the car rental counter. They sat and waited while the time passed, Peter becoming more and more agitated as they sat.

The room filled up, and finally they were led into a smaller room with several rows of seats in a ring all the way around, all facing inward. There was a screen on the floor in the centre of the room, and Remus began to be hopeful that this wouldn't be as bad as he'd been anticipating. The four of them found seats near the screen, and Peter tucked himself into a seat between James and Sirius, looking only a little happier that this wasn't anything like the Matterhorn…yet.

Once the seats had been filled, the door to the room was closed, and the lights went down. There was a bit of narration from a voice, and then the screen in front of them came to life. It looked like the world was on fire. Peter squeaked. There was a countdown, and suddenly the seats began to shake. Peter grabbed onto James, who chuckled.

Then the voice said "Liftoff," and the view changed. The fire and smoke faded, and they could see buildings moving away beneath them, or at least it looked like they were, and then the buildings were indistinct, and the only one they could make out was that silly castle. Then even that faded, and they began to see the shape of the continent, until suddenly, it was the Earth they were looking at. And it was growing smaller and smaller.

At this, Peter let out a shriek, jumped from his seat, and threw himself at the door. Remus whispered at the other two to stay, and went over to talk to the person running the ride. "I'm afraid my friend needs to get out. He's a little high-strung. Can you open the doors?"

The young man looked concerned, but reluctant to open the doors, but Peter was making such a racket that the other people on the ride were beginning to glare at the three of them. "Oh all right, but go quickly please." Then he threw the door release, and Remus hurried to where Peter was already opening the doors, and soon they found themselves in a small courtyard.

"Are you okay, Pete?"

Peter was shaking. "I…I'll be okay, Moony. Just let me sit." Remus nodded, and settled quietly next to his friend.

* * *

Peter hated that he was so scared of things. He wished he was brave like his mates, but it just didn't seem to be happening for him. This wasn't the first time he'd wondered why he'd been sorted into Gryffindor. He knew he would have been much better suited to Hufflepuff, but sometimes, hanging around his friends, he could almost forget it. 

Remus patted him on the back sympathetically. "It's OK, just breathe deeply," he said. Remus looked around at the sights around them, shook his head and said, "This place is so weird, isn't it?"

Peter nodded his head. "I've enjoyed some of it, I really have. The luau, for instance, and watching you three on that teacup ride. I just don't like the fast and scary rides," he admitted quietly.

"Me neither, mate." Remus was quiet for a second before admitting, "I did sort of like the Small World ride, but don't tell Prongs or Padfoot or they'll never stop taking the piss out of me for it." Remus was quiet for a few more seconds before he turned back to Peter with a smile on his face. "When the others come out, maybe we should split up for a while. James and Sirius can go off and do all the wild and crazy rides they want, and we can do some of the calmer, gentler rides. Maybe we could even do some more shopping."

"I think that's a great idea," Peter smiled. "We could go back and find some mouse ears for you too, if you want," he suggested.

Remus winked at him. "Or wolf ears?" he grinned.

Peter chuckled.

When James and Sirius exited the ride, they were laughing and hooting as they walked over to where Remus and Peter sat. It was Peter who was the one to suggest they split up for a while and then meet up for dinner later in the day. It didn't take James and Sirius too long to agree with that, and within minutes, they had run off towards Autopia while Peter and Remus made their way slowly back to Fantasy Land.


	5. Quality Time Apart

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Undomiel2007** – Glad you like the chapter. It just made sense for Remus to be more sensitive than Sirius or James. I'm sure all they'd want to do would be go on the thrill rides. Too bad Space Mountain hadn't been built yet, hm? :D

**5 - Quality Time Apart**

Sirius insisted on playing bumper-cars while they were on Autopia ride. Each got into his own car, James slightly ahead of Sirius. When they took off, Sirius kept bumping into James and laughing maniacally. Just when James tried to hit the gas pedal to speed up out of Sirius's way, his car began to slow down. James continued to try and hit the gas pedal to make it work properly again while continuing to glare over his shoulder at Sirius. "Quit it!" he finally called to Sirius as he continued to ram into him. When the gas pedal was sure to not work, James gave up and moved onto his next attempt to speed up. He bent over the door to the car and began to push himself forward with his hands.

Sirius was laughing so hard he had tears running down his face as he once again rammed into James's car. The park attendant finally noticed what was going on, and in a trice, they were expelled from the ride. After a few minutes of bickering over whose fault that had been, James stormed off to the Skyway, entirely ignoring Sirius's pleas to come back and talk it out. Sirius jogged after him, continually trying to get James's attention, which James continued to ignore as they waited in line. After a few minutes, they ended up in a car with a couple that was giggling and snogging the entire time. Sirius, trying to distract James from his anger, rolled his eyes and nudged at his friend, but James couldn't help but think of Lily. Would she ever consent to go out with him? After all, he wasn't such a bad guy. Not like Snape. He'd never say words like the M-word, or suggest she was less intelligent or less important than him, simply because she was Muggle-born. So why wouldn't she go out with him?

This line of thought was interrupted by their car coming in for a landing in Fantasy Land. Sirius pulled him out of the car and down to the Peter Pan ride. "More pirates, mate," Sirius grinned. James sighed, but nodded, and the two headed off towards the line. The ride seemed to be a fairly popular one, and the cars were quite unusual. They were miniature pirate ships. They clamboured into one when their turn came, and it took off. James was less than impressed, until suddenly the car pulled away from the track, and they found themselves flying over the scenery. Now that was more like it.

They stumbled out of the ride, giggling. This time it was James's turn to pull Sirius along. "Let's go check out that Submarine ride."

"Aw, Prongs, we just came from Tomorrow Land. Let's see if there's anything else around here to ride."

James flicked through the tickets. "Well, pretty much all we have left are some A and B tickets, Padfoot. Maybe we should stock up."

Sirius nodded, and they moved towards the nearest ticket booth, where they ran into Remus and Peter just leaving. "Off to see the Alice in Wonderland ride," Remus grinned.

Sirius's eyes grew round. "What's that like?"

James shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be about the same speed as the Peter Pan ride, Padfoot."

At this, Sirius's interest waned. "Ah. Have fun, blokes," he grinned. The two waved, and disappeared into the crowd as James purchased a new book of tickets. He stuffed them into a pocket, and followed Sirius to their next big adventure.

* * *

Sirius and James headed over to a large tree that people could climb up. As they walked, pipe organ music played from somewhere inside the tree, which turned out to be a gigantic tree house. They looked in at all the rooms built out of the branches. It seemed like a magical place to live. Sirius wondered what it would be like to live in a tree. As he looked at the master bedroom, he imagined making love in the branches, living like Tarzan. He sighed wistfully and moved on to look at the rest of the house built into the tree. 

When they had finished with the tree house, the two boys decided to go on the Haunted Mansion again. They had a bit of a wait before going inside for the ride. Sirius was feeling pretty confident as he and James took their seats in the Doombuggy except for when the bar was being lowered onto their laps. The man helping people into their seats was holding a torch and as the Doombuggy was turning around, he leaned in, flashing the torch onto his face and screamed in the boy's faces. James and Sirius jumped and screamed in surprise.

During the ride, the boys had fun laughing and joking. "Check out the wallpaper, Padfoot. Don't you think it's just like the stuff at your parents' place, mate?" James cackled in Sirius's ear.

Sirius sniggered. "Are you kidding me? They probably bought the stuff from my folks!" Sirius laughed.

Sirius grew bold after a while and leaned over the handlebar so that he could reach the Doombuggy in front of them, and began to pound on its back. He hollered and pounded, laughing when the occupants began to scream. James finally restrained him. "Come on, mate, I don't want to get kicked off another ride…"

Soon, though, Sirius had him convinced to try it. Both boys were doing this when the ride suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the graveyard. A recorded ghoulish voice came over the music and announced that some silly ghosts were messing with the ride and it should be fixed pretty soon. Then the music went back to normal, and the attraction continued to run as if nothing was wrong, though doombuggies remained rooted to the spot.

Sirius and James sat in the dark graveyard for a half hour, bored to tears before the ride started up again. When they finally got off the ride and glided up the ramp, the hologram of a wispy young ghost waved at them. "Hurry back, hurry back…be sure to bring your…death certificate," she called after the guests as they left.

"All right, it's dinnertime, where were we going to meet Remus and Peter?" Sirius asked.

James looked at him for a moment, horrified. "Um, I don't think we actually discussed that," he replied, looking concerned.

Sirius screwed up his face in annoyance. "Great. Now what are we going to do?" Sirius asked.

* * *

Remus and Peter had been having a lovely time. The Alice in Wonderland ride was much calmer than the rides James and Sirius had been taking them on, and once they disembarked from that, Peter thought that he felt brave enough to try out the flying elephants. Sure enough, it was exactly as Peter had described. Of course, the elephants were really just cars shaped like elephants with huge ears for wings, but Remus was okay with that. He wasn't sure he was up to riding a real elephant. 

The two clamboured into a car and sat down, waiting for the creature to take off. Once it did, it wasn't too bad, though when they returned to solid ground, Peter did look a little green.

Remus suggested that they go and check out some of the gift shops to see if they could find anything worth taking home. Peter was in heaven. Almost everything had the picture of a giant mouse on it. And while Peter wasn't a mouse, he told Remus that that was close enough, thank you. Remus grinned, and followed him from shelf to shelf; the only thing marring his enjoyment was a diorama of the three little pigs fairytale. Though the depiction of the wolf was cartoony and laughable, he still had slavering jaws, and an evil look. It was all he could do to hold himself back from smashing it.

Once Peter had spent about half the pocket money he'd brought with him that day, they decided to try out the Peter Pan ride James had mentioned. They got in line, and were nearly to the front before the cars people were climbing into suddenly lurched to a halt.

"Sorry folks," the ticket taker called out after about ten minutes. "There seems to be something wrong with the ride. I'm afraid we're closed for the day."

Remus and Peter made their way back out to the walkway, disappointed that they wouldn't get to try the ride. "What should we do instead, Peter?" Remus asked.

"Well, you said you liked the Small World Ride. I suppose we could give that a try again."

"Are you sure? You didn't seem to be too thrilled the first time through."

"Well, you could always show me what parts you found so enjoyable, Moony."

Remus grinned and nodded, speeding up a little as they headed towards the ride. This time they sat near the back of the boat, and Remus had a great time pointing things out to Peter and explaining why he found them so fascinating. "I'm amazed that Sirius didn't notice the Cleopatra, to be quite honest," he chuckled quietly in Peter's ear.

* * *

Peter laughed. "She is pretty good looking, for a puppet at least," he replied as they departed from the ride. He looked around and patted his stomach. "Hey, it's pretty late and I'm hungry. Let's go meet the guys and get something for dinner, all right?" 

Remus nodded his head and together they walked off for a few minutes before he stopped. "What's the matter?" Peter asked.

"We never actually told them where to meet us," Remus said slowly.

"Oh man, you're right! Well what should we do? We could walk around for a while to see if we run into them, or we could just go eat and assume they'll do the same thing. If we don't see them again in the park, we'll see them back at the hotel tonight," Peter said.

Remus mulled it over for a minute. "I'm hungry now, so let's just go somewhere and eat," he finally declared.

"There's this place in Frontier Land called the Golden Horseshoe Saloon. They sell food and have a show," Peter replied excitedly.

"Cool, that works for me," Remus replied, following Peter as he led them down the path to Frontier Land. After about five minutes, they came upon the saloon. The outside was painted a golden yellow colour and there was a wooden walkway around it in front of the dirt ground. When they went inside, they saw red velvet curtains in front of the stage. There were two levels of tables and chairs for people to sit in. Everything was ornately designed and intricately detailed to look like the American West in the 19th century. The show started in fifteen minutes, so they went inside and bought their meal before finding good seats for the show.

Peter and Remus had a grand time eating and watching the can-can dancers show off their legs on stage. They applauded the performers after each number but were drowned out by loud hoots and hollers coming from a few tables behind them. Peter turned to see Sirius and James shouting and stomping their feet at the dancers. He turned and grinned at Remus, "Looks like we have company," he shouted so Remus could hear him.


	6. Together Again

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Undomiel2007 **– Glad you enjoyed. I'm sure Lily had her reasons. Sometimes it's just best to wait until they grow up a bit… Yeah, waiting for a ride that you can't get on does suck. But it happens. Splash Mountain was built in the nineties, I believe, so, no, no Splash Mountain.

**Freakyfairy** – Glad you're enjoying it. We didn't know there were any other Marauder/Disney stories. Are they on ?

**6 - Together Again**

Reunited, the quartet made their way out of the Saloon once the show was over, talking and laughing. Dusk had fallen, and most of the walkways seemed rather deserted. James took a glance at the guidebook to find out why. He had to flip through a few pages before the answer appeared. He showed it to the others. "Hey, look, mates. It says they have a parade right about now in Main Street. Let's see if we can go catch it."

Peter frowned. "But I wanted to see the Country Bear Jamboree!"

"Come on, Pete, we can do that tomorrow! It's open all day," Sirius wheedled. "I want to see _that_ parade!"

James shrugged at Peter, "Sorry, mate. I'd rather do the Parade, too." Then he turned to Remus. "What do you think, Moony? Yours seems to be the deciding vote…"

Remus glared at him for a moment, a sour look on his face. Then he glanced between Sirius, who was making puppy eyes at him, and Peter, who looked about ready to throw a tantrum. James hated making him the bad guy, but he knew Peter would take it better coming from Remus than either him or Sirius. "Peter, Sirius is right. We're coming back tomorrow. We can make the Country Bear Jamboree first thing we do here tomorrow. Okay?"

Peter shrugged sulkily, his face dark. "Fine. 'Snot like you guys ever listen to me anyway." James rolled his eyes at Sirius, and the two led the way through the park to Main Street, where they could now hear music, and a found a great crowd of people watching the passing floats.

Sirius elbowed his way through the crowd, the other three following closely behind him, and they ended up right at the curb, with a superb view of all the people and floats passing by.

* * *

Sirius grinned at all the passing floats. There were people dressed up as different characters prancing around on the floats, their costumes all adorned in small electric lights. He recognized several of the people as characters they'd seen on the rides they'd been on that day, and he could hear people pointing out their favorites to their children as they watched the parade go by as well. He specifically recognized Snow White and Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty and Mickey and Minnie Mouse, at which Peter went into paroxysms of delight. Silly circus-type calliope music played while the floats moved down the path. 

The parade went on for about twenty minutes and the boys were having the time of their lives. They laughed and pointed and waved at the characters. "She winked at me! Snow White winked at me!" James cried out to his friends at one point, a vague, dreamy smile on his face.

Sirius high-fived him and as he looked back at the floats his face broke into a huge smile. "Pirates!" he called out to his friends, pointing to a float with Peter Pan and Captain Hook on the Jolly Roger. The pirates and Lost Boys were fighting one another while Captain Hook chased Peter around the ship. Every once in a while, Peter would fly up into the masts, away from Hook, taunting him all the while. Sirius hooted and clapped at Captain Hook, who was brandishing his hook in frustration up at Peter. "You tell him, mate!" he cheered him on.

Remus nudged him. "Sirius! Hook's the bad guy!"

Sirius stared blandly at his friend. "So? Hello? Wizard from a dark family here!" Remus shushed him at that, but Sirius just laughed. "Come on, Moony, no one's paying any attention to us at the moment." With that, he turned back to watch more of the parade.

When Sirius next looked at his friends, he was shocked to see one of the characters, in her lit-up sky blue dress, trying to get Remus to join her in a dance. Remus had blushed deeper than seemed humanly possible, and was trying to refuse her by shaking his head and trying to pull away from her, but she would have none of that and gently led him to the front of the crowd and proceeded to dance with him for several minutes before curtseying to him and rejoining the parade, waving to the crowd as she departed.

Sirius and James crowed and clapped Remus on the back as he rejoined them. Peter smiled and hopped up and down excitedly. Remus was still blushing furiously, but couldn't quite restrain himself from grinning, either.

It felt like it was way too soon for the parade to end, but it finally did. The crowd began to dissipate somewhat as Peter tried to hurry the group to the side of Sleeping Beauty's castle by the entrance to Tomorrow Land. "Come on mates, I heard someone in the crowd say that this is one of the prime spots for watching the fireworks. We only have a half hour until then," he called out to them as he wormed his way through the crowd, ahead of the others.

* * *

The four found a bench that was quite close to the fireworks and oohed and aaahed as they went off. They'd been thoroughly amused to watch somebody dressed up as "Tinkerbell" "flew" down from the Matterhorn to the top of Sleeping Beauty's Castle to signify the start of the show. The fireworks lasted quite a while, and were very impressive, for Muggle fireworks. Once they were over, the boys headed towards the main gate. Remus smiled to himself. This had been a good idea. Maybe Sirius wasn't so nuts after all. Or at least there was method to his madness. 

The walk back to the Jolly Roger that night was a long one, but they were all so excited from their first day at the park that none of them really noticed, as they talked the entire way about their plans for the next morning.

Peter fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Remus found himself wide awake, so he sat and stared out the window for a while. After an hour, he heard a tap from the adjoining door, and got up to open it. James stood on the other side, a crooked grin on his face. "Hey, mate. Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd see if you were suffering one of your bouts of insomnia."

Remus smiled. He and James had often stayed up late at Hogwarts, talking long after Sirius and Peter had fallen asleep. Those two rarely had troubles sleeping, but James and Remus often found themselves unable to sleep. James because he had trouble adjusting to sleeping at Hogwarts after being home for the holidays, and Remus because he'd had insomnia off and on for as long as he could remember, due to his lycanthropy, and the aches and worries it caused him.

"Come on in, mate. Pete's dead to the world. What did you and Sirius do when we split up?"

James told him about Autotopia, and how they'd been thrown off the ride, then about the snogging couple in the Skyway car, and how they'd gone on Peter Pan, then the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. "And we definitely have to take you guys up there tomorrow. Pete'll love it," James grinned.

"Sounds intriguing, Prongs. We'll definitely have to check it out."

James also told him about Sirius scaring the people in front of them when they'd gone back to the Haunted Mansion, and Remus sighed. "He'll never grow up, will he?"

James grinned. "I hope not."

Remus then proceeded to tell James about their exploration of Fantasy Land, including their rides on Alice in Wonderland, which he said was quite interesting and rather like experiencing a waking dream.

James chuckled ruefully. "Maybe I should have let Sirius drag me to that one."

Remus shrugged. "You both might have enjoyed it. It had a lot of talking animals in it."

He also told James about the Dumbo ride.

"So it really flies, eh?"

"Well, sort of. It goes around in a circle. And it was fairly slow, too. Pete seemed okay on it. You guys'd probably get bored, though."

They talked for quite a while, trading stories about their afternoon at the park, until finally both of them were yawning quite widely, and James excused himself and returned to his room.

Remus smiled and snuggled into his bed. Sometimes Sirius did come up with good ideas.

* * *

The four boys slept in the next morning before getting dressed for their second day in Disneyland. They strolled to the park, excited for the adventures they'd have that day. 

Once inside the park, Sirius suggested they eat breakfast before doing anything else. "I saw a nice looking restaurant called The River Belle Terrace in New Orleans Square yesterday. Oh, and Peter, I saw on the menu that they make Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes!" That sold Peter on the subject. The other two boys didn't care where they ate, just as long as they did so soon.

The boys strolled down Main Street while glancing in the shops on their way to New Orleans Square. It was a bit of a walk, but there was plenty to see and talk about. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Peter exclaimed.

"Well, I don't think they serve horse here," James replied, "but those pancakes should fill you up."

"Did you ever wonder about that saying?" Sirius asked. "I mean really, did anybody ever actually get so hungry that they ate an entire horse? Think about it. It would take so long to cook a horse that you'd not be able to wait that long to eat it. I don't think it's possible," he stated confidently.

"Can we not talk about this please?" Remus asked. "You're going to make me sick," he said, frowning at Sirius.

"All right, no talking about eating horses anymore, got it?" Sirius called out to his companions, who nodded their heads in agreement.

After about ten minutes, they arrived at the River Belle Terrace. They entered the restaurant and picked up trays to put their food on. Sirius wasn't too hungry, so he only had pancakes, sausages, hash browns, eggs, and orange juice. Remus carried his own tray of oatmeal and bacon and grimaced at the pile of food on Sirius's. "How do you manage to eat all of the?" he asked.

"With my mouth!" Sirius replied, cackling as they walked to an umbrella-covered table outside.

The boys sat around, eating and enjoying the food. Peter said he felt bad about cutting off poor Mickey's ears and eating them. "I'd sure hate to have anything cut off of me," he said. "Sorry mate," he apologized before cutting into Mickey's left ear and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Hey, look, it's Peter the cannibal!" James chuckled as Peter swallowed his mouthful.

"What's it like to eat your own kind?" Sirius grinned.

"Are you saying Peter is a doughy food product?" Remus asked with a slight smile on his face.

"Of course I am! I've always thought so," Sirius replied.

"Gee, thanks guys," Peter cut in, frowning.

"Oh, we're kidding! You know that," James assured Peter.

The boys ate quietly after that. After a while, Sirius broke the silence. "What do you want to do first today?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of eggs. "Should we stick together or split up again?"


	7. A Slow Start

See chapter 1 for explanations and disclaimers.

**Neoma **– glad you like it. We realized we should have explained this after we got your review. In a nutshell, Disneyland was actually pay-per-ride until sometime in the early eighties. Before that, you had ticket-books with Tickets lettered from A to E. A ticket rides were usually light, quick, and stuff that the younger patrons would enjoy, while E-ticket rides were much longer, but faster-paced, or scarier, etc. So, the Matterhorn was an E-ticket ride. It's where the term E-Ticket-Ride originated. Just a little history.

**7 - A Slow Start**

The group decided to stick together for the morning, and then split up in the afternoon, after Sirius's promise to Peter and Remus that he wouldn't push any scary or fast-paced rides that morning. "After all," James told him as he cuffed Sirius on the shoulder, "you know that I'm always up for anything you are later, Padfoot."

Peter reminded them that they'd promised him they'd go to the Country Bear Jamboree, so they set off. They made their way past the Rivers of America again, and through a path leading to the ride. As they were walking through a rocky divide, they heard a growling rumble. Peter squeaked and jumped away from the sound.

"Wh…where did that come from?" he trembled.

Sirius was nearly on the ground he was laughing so hard. James rolled his eyes. "It's okay, Pete. It's just a sound effect. You know, recorded? Like on the rides?"

Peter looked around warily. "You sure, James? It sounded awfully real."

He slung his arm over Peter's shoulders. "Promise, Pete. In fact, if I'm wrong, I promise I'll transform and let it eat me first, so you can get away, okay?"

Peter nodded, but didn't quite stop trembling, and looked around them warily as they continued to make their way to the Country Bear Jamboree, never quite relaxing until they made it to the ride.

They followed a roped-off path into an auditorium, and found themselves seats near the stage at the front of the room. The set-up was interesting. It reminded James a bit of his father's hunting lodge up in the Scottish Highlands. There were bits of animals—skins, horns, and even mounted heads, strewn about the room. It creeped him out. But then, so had his father's hunting lodge, really. Especially since they had all become animagi, and he had discovered what his form was. It was kind of hard to appreciate a hunting lodge when your other form was a stag.

---

The four boys sat and watched as the curtain rose. Mechanical bears playing instruments suddenly appeared and began to perform. It was such a silly show they couldn't help but enjoy it. The mounted animal heads on the wall even participated, singing and telling jokes. One bear did something called an "Elvis impression" and another large female bear named Trixie came down on a swing from the ceiling and serenaded the crowd.

Sirius had never, ever experienced anything like this before. It was the funniest thing he'd ever seen, and the music was like nothing they had in Britain. It was totally, and utterly, American in its nature. He had tears running down his face by the end of the show, he was laughing so hard.

When they were done, Sirius suggested they take the raft to Tom Sawyer's Island. The rest of the boys were up for it, even Peter, so he led the way down the path to the rafts. After paying their tickets, they got on the raft and within minutes, were floating across the Rivers of America to the island.

The place was every boy's dream come true. He and James ran off, leaving Peter and Remus to explore by themselves. There was a cave, "Injun Joe's Cave" that people walked through. After walking through it themselves, Sirius and James decided to have some fun with the other people exploring the cave. "Hey, let's go in the exit!" Sirius suggested while wriggling his eyebrows evilly.

"And do what?" James asked.

"Scare the hell out of people of course!" Sirius replied while walking into a corner obscured by shadows and waiting for the first person to come by.

By hiding in the exit doorway, they could jump out and grab people as they were leaving, causing them to scream in terror. This was so much fun that they continued doing it until they saw Peter and Remus making their way towards them. Peter looked nervous from the loud screams coming from further ahead. Sirius could see the two looking closely at them. "You guys are so immature!" Remus called out to them with a smile on his face. Sirius shrugged, but grinned, and the four friends left the cave to explore the island some more.

There were log bridges and even a fort. Sirius scrambled up the stairs to the gun turret and had fun shooting at pretend enemies.

They spent over an hour on the island before meeting in the gift shop in the fort to discuss their next move. "I don't know where we should go, but I think it should be somewhere cooler. This island is so much hotter than the rest of the park," Peter said, fanning himself with a folded map.

"It is not! It's the same as the rest of the park," James replied. This led to a huge discussion which ended in a stalemate, as Remus agreed with James and Sirius agreed with Peter. Since none of them had a thermometer, there was no way of knowing for sure.

After buying refreshments at the shop, they set off for the raft trip back to the main park and their next stop.

---

Remus reminded James that he had wanted to show them the Swiss Family Tree House, so they made their way towards it. It was utterly fascinating. A whole house set up in a tree. There was everything from beds to desks, even a kitchen area. Remus was amazed that anyone could create something so fantastic, let alone Muggles.

Sirius apparently loved it as well. "Too bad the Whomping Willow's so treacherous, or we could make ourselves quite the tree house, don't you think?" he was telling Peter, who looked ill at the idea of trying to build a house in the violent tree's branches. Peter seemed to be enjoying himself otherwise, though. They finished their trek through the tree house, and it wasn't even eleven yet, so they agreed to try out the Canal boat ride.

The boats themselves were small, so they got one to themselves, and proceeded to float through what appeared to be a miniature town. Small signs told the riders what house was what. There was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' cottage, Gepetto's toy store, the hole Alice fell down into Wonderland. There was also a small replica of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, as well as Cinderella's Dream Castle. All were built around a small Bavarian-style village with mountains as a backdrop. On the other side was a small tilled field with windmills dotted throughout it. Remus was amazed at the detail they'd managed to get, and wondered if perhaps they had a wizard on staff to miniaturize things for them.

James and Sirius, unfortunately, were less impressed. In fact, they were bored. So they decided to have a water fight, splashing each other, and Peter and Remus in the process, as covertly as possible without letting their tour guide become aware of what they were doing. Finally, Remus had had enough, growled at the two of them, and told them if they didn't cut it out he'd push them both out of the boat, and they could make their way out of the ride on foot, and explain it to the officials when they did, and that they'd be lucky if they weren't thrown from the park.

The two looked chastened, but every so often, when they thought he wasn't looking, they would splash each other again, when the tour guide was looking away. "Berks," Remus muttered under his breath.

---

"Did you see the train ride above us?" Peter asked as they disembarked from the canal boat ride, "It looks like fun."

James glanced over at the train, unimpressed. "I guess we could give it a try," he replied.

Peter led them to the entrance of the ride. "Casey Jr.?" he heard Sirius murmur sneeringly, though he chose to ignore it.

The group paid their tickets and then walked over to the train to choose their seats. "Here, guys, this one's for you two!" Remus called out as he pointed to a set of benches inside a small cage.

"Oh, sweet!" Sirius cried while running towards the cage and jumping inside. James quickly followed suit. They were so big they could hardly fit, though somehow they managed.

Peter and Remus rolled their eyes while walking to the caboose and sitting down on a bench, waiting for the ride to begin. When the train was full, the ride started, following a set of tracks along a path that went around the same path the canal boat ride did, but from above.

It was a slow, peaceful ride, though it did have the tendency to whip around the corners pretty quickly, which was a lot of fun. Peter could see James and Sirius's arms waving out from the cage. He could hear their hoots and whistles from all the way at the end of the train.

Peter looked down on the small village below and couldn't help but think that this was his favourite ride so far. He decided he had to ride it at least once more, perhaps in the dark. He'd heard some of the other people on the ride mention that the village lit up and it was even more magical than in the daytime.

He was sad when the ride came to a stop and they all walked away to the next ride.


	8. A Memorable Afternoon

Disclaimers and notes in chapter one.

Coming up on the end, folks.

Please R & R

**8 - A Memorable Afternoon**

By lunchtime, the whole group was ravenous, despite the fact that they'd had a good breakfast. None of them particularly felt like waiting around for food, so they just went to one of the fast-food stands, and each ordered a hamburger with fries. James decided he needed a milkshake since it was so warm out, and soon everyone was asking for sips of it, so he shoved what was left at Sirius and went back to the counter to get more. Unfortunately, when he made it to the front of the line once more, the shake machine was broken. James fumed, but bought himself a soda so that he'd at least have something to drink with his lunch.

After lunch, they split up, this time remembering to promise to meet outside the Blue Bayou for dinner.

Once the other two had disappeared into the crowd, James turned to Sirius. "So, Mister Padfoot, where shall we head off to now, now that we've lost the wimp contingent?" he grinned.

"I want to go back on the Matterhorn again!"

James's grin broadened. "Oh, good choice!"

The two hurried off to the mountain once more, and rode it not once, but twice before moving on to the next ride.

Sirius had convinced James that they needed to try the submarine ride. "More water, and no Moony glaring at us! It'll be great!" he grinned broadly. James shook his head, but he was smiling, and he knew that no matter what he said, they'd end up on the ride anyway. The line was fairly short, so they scrambled into a very odd-looking car, that he assumed was supposed to be a "submarine," whatever that was supposed to be. Other riders filled the car as well, and so the two boys made themselves as comfortable as possible on the cold metal seats that they had chosen.

Unfortunately, the submarine was totally enclosed, with no way to splash the water at each other. The effects of the submarine "submerging" and "raising" were cheesy rushes of bubbles at the beginning and end of the ride, and the exhibit itself even more cheesy.

When it was finally over, James climbed out of the boat, glaring at Sirius. "Water ride. Right. We might as well have gone on that snoozer Small World ride again, Pads. At least then we could have reached the water. I get to choose the next ride, I think." He thought for a moment, then smiled, grabbed Sirius's arm, and began to pull. "Come on. I want to go on the teacups again."

* * *

Sirius and James had the time of their lives whirling around in their teacup. They laughed and screamed until the ride ended and they walked away, hanging onto each other for support. 

They were sitting down, trying to regain their balance when Sirius noticed one of the characters walking around. Looking up, he saw it was the beautiful girl Remus had danced with during the parade the night before. She was graceful and elegant, with honey-blonde hair pulled back in a French twist and she wore a long, powder blue dress. There was a crowd of about ten little girls around her begging for pictures and autographs. She smiled down at them, and Sirius felt his stomach lurch as he realized he'd just seen the girl of his dreams.

He slowly stood up and walked over to her. She had just sent off the last of the children with an autograph when she looked up to see Sirius standing in front of her. Sirius gazed into her amazingly clear blue eyes and wondered if she'd even speak to him. "Hello, I'm so happy to meet you," he said.

"Well, I'm very happy to meet you too," she replied, flashing him her smile which made Sirius want to melt away. "What is your name?" she asked politely.

"Sirius…but you can call me Prince Charming if you like. What is your name?" he asked suavely, taking one of her gloved hands in his, bringing it up to his lips, and kissing it gently.

The girl's eyebrows rose in surpise. "Oh, well…my name is Cinderella, Sirius, it was good to meet you, but I must be off to greet the other guests," she replied, smiling again. She took her hand back from Sirius, waved, and walked off to meet more children.

Sirius walked back to James and sat down next to him, sighing loudly as he watched Cinderella disappear in the crowd. "You used the Prince Charming line again, didn't you?" James chuckled. "That line never works! Why do you keep trying?"

"Well, you never know. There's a first time for everything, mate," Sirius replied, "Well almost everything. Peter wooing a girl to his bed is sure to never happen for example." The two boys broke into loud laughing fits at the very thought.

"Or Remus getting a failing grade. That will never happen," James added.

"I wonder what those two are up to anyway."

* * *

Remus and Peter had been exploring the shops in New Orleans Square. Remus had found a beautiful bottle for his mother, and a hat that he thought his father would like. Peter had been browsing the artwork, trying to find something for his own mother, when a couple of children ran into the store. 

Before Remus could stop them, they zoomed to the other side of the store, and hid behind a clothes rack. Immediately thereafter, a man charged into the store. He was red-faced and panting, and he'd seen that look once in Sirius's eyes once when the Slytherins had stolen his bag and charmed it to blink "Blood-traitor" for a whole week. It was not a good look. Before the man could begin his search, as Remus assumed he would, Remus stepped up to him. "Is something wrong, sir? You look upset. Can I help you, maybe?"

The man looked at him for a moment, panting and wheezing, before he responded. "Yeah," he growled. "Have you seen two brats come in here? They ran off, and I've been looking for them everywhere."

"Brats, sir? Could you be more specific? There are lots of kids in this park, and I would say several of them have acted like brats at least part of the time they were here."

The man blinked at him slowly, thinking. "They're a boy and a girl. She's about half your height, blonde hair, brown eyes. The boy's a bit taller, brown hair and eyes."

While the man was speaking, Remus heard Peter moving behind him. He hoped he was shielding the children from this man, whoever he was. "Are they yours, sir?"

The man frowned. "What does that matter, kid? It's none of your business," he growled. "Have you seen them or not?"

"Well, your description is still a bit vague, sir…"

At this, the man snarled, "Just get out of the way," and tried to lunge past Remus. Remus caught his arm and twisted hard.

"I don't think so, sir. Whatever those kids have done, you shouldn't face them in this mood. You're liable to hurt them."

The man whimpered, and fell to his knees just as a security guard entered the shop, obviously summoned by the shop clerk. Remus watched as he took in the situation: the children cowering behind the rack, the man on his knees in front of Remus, with Remus still holding his arm, and Peter standing between the man and the children. He turned his gaze to the shop clerk. "Which one, Rose?"

"The one on the floor." She indicated the man Remus was holding.

The guard approached Remus, and nodded to him. "I'll handle it from here, sir, if you'll just let go."

Remus nodded, released his hold on the man's arm, and stepped away. The guard helped the man up. "What's going on, sir?"

The man's eyes glinted, and he thrust an arm in Remus's direction. "That kid attacked me. I just came in here to find the kids I was with, and he attacked me! I demand that you have him arrested!"

"These children, sir. Are they yours?"

The man blinked at him for a moment. "My…my stepkids." But Remus could see the boy shaking his head "no" vigorously.

"Ah. Well, hold on, and we'll get everything sorted out for you." Then Remus realized that they were no longer the only ones in the store any more. Several guards had entered silently while the guard had talked with the man. One took the children by the hands and led them from the store. Two more flanked the man, who looked worried now, and led him from the store.

The first guard turned back to Remus once they were gone. "Thank you for your help, sir. We've been on the lookout for someone fitting his description. We don't exactly encourage park guests to get involved in this kind of thing, but you definitely deserve something for keeping him away from those kids." He took something out of his pocket and handed it to Remus. It was a fresh booklet of tickets. "He won't be staying in the park long, even if he isn't the man we're looking for, but I'd recommend being careful tonight when you leave the park, just in case."

Remus grinned. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm sure my friends and I will be able to handle anything he can throw at us." He waved Peter over, and they left the store.

* * *

Peter had never felt more terrified then when he'd seen the look on that man's face as he'd tried to find those children. He'd remembered a time when he was about seven years old when his mother had done the same thing Remus had done when an anger-crazed woman was screaming and chasing after her daughter. He'd remembered the look in that woman's eyes as she yelled for the poor girl, who'd run up to Peter and clung to him desperately. It was a memory that had embedded itself deeply into his mind. He'd never thought it would ever happen again though. It had been purely instinct that told him he needed to protect the children from that man, with his own body or life if it was necessary. It hadn't been a hard decision to assist Remus in helping out in the situation, but when it was over, he began to tremble uncontrollably and had to sit down quickly before he collapsed. 

Remus looked at Peter with concern showing on his face and told him to stay on the bench where he was sitting while he ran to buy him something to eat. Several minutes later, Remus returned with a slice of pizza, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of orange juice. "Here you go Peter, eat up. This will help you feel better," he said while handing the food to Peter, who ate slowly while taking deep breaths to calm down.

"I don't think I'll be up to any rides for a while, Remus," Peter croaked. "I just need a while to get over that. Were you scared?" he asked Remus.

Remus thought about it for a while. "I didn't even think about it really. It happened so fast, and then it was adrenaline and testosterone and all of that. But I'm a little shaky too, I'll admit," he replied while taking a deep breath.

After Peter had finished his food, which he'd ended up sharing with Remus, he stood up and walked around for a minute. "How about a trip on the Mark Twain riverboat?" he asked. Remus grinned and nodded his head in agreement. They walked off down to the landing and waited in line for the next departure.

Once on, the boys walked around to the highest level of the boat, basking themselves in the warm sun. They looked at the sights as the Mark Twain made its way down the Rivers of America. They passed by Tom Sawyer's Island and waved at the children playing on the banks. They watched as the boat passed by mechanical animals in the wild, and even a settler's cabin that had been set on fire by Indians. As they rounded a corner, Peter watched as the train that went all around the park passed them by. He smiled and waved at the passengers.

Captain Hook happened to be riding on the boat with them. People came over to him for autographs and pictures. Peter watched quietly as a group of teenage girls walked up to him and started flirting with him. Hook took pictures with all of the girls and signed their books before they turned to leave. Peter couldn't help but laugh out loud as Hook reached out his hooked hand and tapped one of the girls on the backside as she walked away. The girl whipped around quickly before grinning and turning back to her girlfriends, whispered to them, giggled, and ran off as a group.

Peter shook his head before turning around to speak to Remus. "Hey Remus, we haven't been on the train around the park yet. Let's do that next, shall we?" Remus happily agreed.

The Mark Twain returned to shore far too quickly for Peter's tastes. He could have stayed out there all day, but knew there were more fun things to do, so he walked off with Remus to find the closest train station, feeling refreshed and renewed.


	9. Always Something Going on in the Park

Disclaimers and notes in chapter one.

Sorry this is late. Only one chapter left.

**HamstanatorX** – Glad you love it. We had a great time writing it.

Please R & R

**9 -Always Something Going on in the Park**

It was getting late. James and Sirius decided to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride again before meeting up with Remus and Peter, since the ride exit would drop them off right near the entrance of the restaurant they would be meeting in front of. And Sirius had been clamouring for a water ride ever since the submarines. At least this in one, James knew he wouldn't have to do the splashing himself.

As they got into line, James couldn't help noticing the two girls ahead of them. One was blonde, and horribly giggly, but the other reminded him of someone very specific. She had long, dark red hair, and wore a leaf-green minidress. His breath caught in his throat. It couldn't be her, right? Why would she be here? Her friend glanced at the two boys as they moved forward in line, and then whispered in the redhead's ear. The redhead turned back to look, and James was able to breathe once more. Brown eyes. Not her. But she was pretty. And he could see that Sirius was eyeing her friend. He stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Hi. James Potter. This is my friend Sirius Black."

"Samantha Doyle," the redhead responded, shaking his hand. "My friend here is Jennifer Lorrie. You two by yourselves?"

Sirius grinned. "Well, we're here with our friends, but they're a bit wimpy when it comes to the good rides, so we let them go do what they wanted while we did what we wanted. We're meeting them after this for dinner, though."

Samantha looked disheartened by this. "Oh. Well, I hope that your girlfriends are having a good time, at least."

James and Sirius looked at each other a few seconds before falling against each other laughing. When James managed to take a breath without breaking into giggles, he shook his head. "Not that kind of friend. We're all mates from school. Peter and Remus are just not as…adventurous as we are," he grinned.

Both girls brightened considerably at this. "Oh," Samantha grinned.

Jennifer finally spoke up. "Are you English?" Sirius and James nodded. "God, I just love your accents!"

* * *

"Yes, we are from England," Sirius confirmed, flashing Jennifer his most suave smile, "And I must say, there's nothing I love more than an American accent. What a perfect coincidence then, that we'd run into each other this way." 

The foursome boarded a boat, Jennifer sitting next to Sirius in the back, while Samantha sat up front next to James. Sirius and Jennifer exchanged pleasantries during the boat's lazy drifting down the night-time river scene. Neither was paying any attention to the ride and both were caught off guard when the boat made its first long drop to the level below. Jennifer screamed and jumped onto Sirius's lap. "Don't be scared, I've got you," he said in a soothing tone while nuzzling her ear.

Sirius didn't notice the rest of the ride, for once she had calmed down, he leaned in to kiss her, and they spent the remainder of the time on the boat snogging. Jennifer seemed to be right up Sirius's alley, for she'd allowed him to get his hands under her blouse and had undone her bra before the ride ended without any protest. He was too excited to be going so far with her to care about how small her chest was. He just kept wondering if there was a way to take her back to the Jolly Roger Inn with him to have some more fun with her.

When the ride ended, the four stepped off the boat and walked outside to talk some more while waiting for Remus and Peter to arrive. It seemed, from the disheveled state of James's shirt and glasses, that he'd done his share of snogging on the ride as well. "So, are you girls in college or high school?" Sirius asked, after thinking hard to remember how the American school system worked.

Jennifer giggled. "We're in junior high, but we'll be going to high school next year," she replied. "What about you? You must be in high school."

Sirius was stunned. Junior high? That must be what, second or third year at Hogwarts. Jennifer must have been twelve or thirteen. "How old are you exactly?" he asked cautiously.

"Twelve, but I'll be thirteen in two months," Jennifer replied.

"And I'm already thirteen," Samantha added.

All the colour from James's face drained as he looked over at Sirius. They'd had no idea they were so young, and while they had been a lot of fun, Sirius didn't want this girl's father coming after him with a shotgun, like he'd heard was the American custom in such instances. If he'd had any clue as to how young she'd been, he wouldn't have made any moves on her at all.

"I see…well…Oh, I think I see our friends coming. You'll have to excuse us, ladies. It was good to get to know you, but we have to go," he said politely but firmly while grabbing James's arm so they could as far away from them as possible could. "Did you have any idea?" he hissed at James. James shook his head vigorously while glancing over his shoulder to see if the girls were following them.

"They're gone," he finally announced after a minute. The two boys let out a dual sigh and sat down on a bench to collect their thoughts. "We need to be more careful, mate," James said.

"Yes, we do," Sirius replied, trying to get his mind off of what had just happened.

* * *

Remus and Peter had ridden the train twice round the park before getting off on Main Street and walking through the castle. They'd even discovered that you could go into the castle, and that there was a set of dioramas about the princess who lived there. They were sweet, but not at all what Remus remembered the fairy tale they were based on being anything like. 

After exiting the castle, they hurried to meet Sirius and James, who were lurking outside the restaurant, making some of the other customers look rather nervous. When they saw Remus and Peter, they broke into huge grins.

"Man, are we glad to see you guys!" Sirius grinned.

Peter looked curious. "Why? What's up? Did you run into that guy too?"

James looked confused. "What guy?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Let's go get some food, and we can discuss it then, OK? I'm starved."

James shot Sirius a look, and Remus wondered what that was about, but shrugged, and led the way into the restaurant. They managed to finagle a table overlooking the ride. The items on the menu sounded mouth-wateringly delicious, but when Remus saw the prices, he nearly had a heart attack. "Guys," he hissed. "There's no way I can afford this."

Sirius glared at him. "I told you I'd pick up the tab for anything you needed on the trip, Moony. Just order what you want. It's no big deal."

Peter was totally distracted in trying to decide what he wanted for dinner, but James looked at Remus sympathetically. Though he'd never been without funds, he understood Remus's need to pay for everything he could. Remus shrugged at him, as if to say, "What can you do?" and proceeded to look through the menu for something that wasn't too expensive without making Sirius believe he was ordering light just to cut down on costs.

When the waitress returned to take their orders, Sirius and Peter were quick to order prime rib, and James ordered the crab dish that was on special that night. When she turned to Remus, he couldn't help but flush slightly as he asked for his Cobb salad. He heard Sirius's growl, but avoided his eyes by watching the next load of passengers on the ride sail by.

* * *

Peter had had a great day so far. Remus was such a nice companion. He never pressured him to do anything he wasn't comfortable with. The train ride had been so much fun. There were plenty of sights to see, watching the park slowly drift by, and there were two attractions for the train itself. One was a diorama of the Grand Canyon, which Peter assumed was somewhere in the States. It was a beautiful sight. They'd set up trees and deer and many other animals around the edge, depicting the natural life there. Happy sounding music, which made Peter think of cowboys and indians, played in the background. 

On the other side of the park, there was a diorama of the Primeval World. This had scary, ominous music and showed dinosaurs living in a swampy rain forest. There were volcanoes in the background. It was dark and dreary, portraying a life that was far from where Peter wished to live his life.

The one thing in this diorama that didn't scare Peter was the tiny hatching dinosaurs. One of them was stuck in its egg and kept wiggling back and forth to get out, though it never did. They rode around the park twice and the little baby never managed to get out of its egg.

Over the course of the afternoon, the boys rode on Peter Pan's Flight and Pinocchio's Daring Journey. There was a part at the end of the Pinocchio ride when Monstro the giant whale that swallowed Pinocchio jumps out in front of the cars. Peter squealed like a stuck pig. Remus couldn't help but laugh at this, though Peter denied that it had scared him, saying he'd just been joking.

Afterwards, Peter and Remus had taken turns trying to free Excalibur from the stone in which it was embedded in front of King Arthur's Carousel. "I hear whoever gets it out gets to be king for the day or something like that," he explained while tugging on the sword.

When they'd grown frustrated over not getting the sword, they turned away in time to see an old man in a violet robe and pointed hat sweep past. He had a long silver beard, and Peter and Remus gazed after him in shock. Remus turned to Peter. "You don't think…?"

Peter looked at his friend, wide-eyed. "But what would he be doing here?"

Remus shook his head. "No idea, mate."

They moved to follow him, then watched startled as he turned and moved towards them. It wasn't Dumbledore. But he certainly had looked like him from the back. The two boys moved away from the stone, and the wizard stepped up to it, nodding jovially at them as they joined the crowd that had suddenly gathered.

The wizard began to call up each of the children, particularly waving forward the shy ones, and stepping aside to let them try to pull the sword from the stone. Finally, a little red-headed girl, who had hidden behind her parents for several minutes while the wizard coaxed her out, reached forward and tugged at the sword. It slid easily from the stone, and she looked up at it, amazed. The wizard declared her queen for the day, and everyone applauded.

The two friends grinned at each other as the crowd broke up. "How terrific was that?" Peter asked Remus.

"Incredibly," Remus answered with a grin.

They wandered for a bit after that, and Remus finally suggested they go to the art gallery in the rooms above the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Peter thought this sounded interesting and agreed easily.

The gallery had frames of cells from animated movies that had been made over the years. Each one had a caption under it explaining what it was and where it came from. There were also pictures of Walt Disney, the founder of the park. The gallery looked out over the Rivers of America. It was so beautiful this time of day, calm and peaceful. Peter was really glad to be able to see it from where he was. It was quiet and he could look down on the rest of the people walking about the park.

The boys were hungry and stopped at a small snack shop in New Orleans Square where they bought beignets and strawberry daiquiris to drink. They sat on a bench nearby and ate their food while talking about the day they'd had. "I really loved the ride on the Mark Twain," Peter said.

"I did too, and the train ride was great as well," Remus replied. When they were done, they spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in and out of the gift shops in the park.

On the way back to the Blue Bayou, the boys walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle, which they hadn't known could be walked through. There were dioramas telling the story of the princess and how she fell asleep and how her Prince Charming had woken her with true love's first kiss. It was quite a touching story.

Peter and Remus then met up with James and Sirius and together they went to the restaurant and enjoyed dinner. Peter's prime rib was so sweet and tender it practically melted in his mouth. The jacket potato was incredibly light and fluffy, and drowned in butter and sour cream.

Peter looked up, startled, when Sirius told them about the girls that they had met on the ride shortly before meeting up with them again.

"You snogged a twelve year old?" Remus asked, horrified.

"I didn't know it at the time," Sirus said, embarrassed.

Remus was in the middle of telling James and Sirius about the altercation he'd been part of when dessert arrived. Peter dug eagerly into his slice of chocolate cheesecake while Remus finished his tale. "So, the security guards dragged the man away as he was screaming about how he'd avenge himself," he snorted.

"Wow, Moony, you could have gotten into serious trouble.," James said while shaking his head in wonderment.

Remus grinned. "Yeah, well, from now on, I promise to leave that to Padfoot." James and Peter laughed while Sirius scowled at him.


	10. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Disclaimers and notes in chapter one.

So, this is incredibly late, but it's the last chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed the story, and thanks to everyone who reviewed. We had a lot of fun with it.

**10 - Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow**

Peter and Sirius insisted upon watching the parade and the fireworks again that night, and James and Remus weren't exactly opposed, so, after paying their bill, they hurried to find a good spot along the parade route that would give them a good view of the fireworks after.

The parade was just as spectacular as it had been the previous night. They cheered and whooped at their favourite floats, and Remus had to restrain Sirius from running out onto the parade route several times that night. James laughed when the princess Sirius had tried to pick up passed by and Sirius turned away, red-faced. He clapped him on the back. "You'll get over it, Padfoot."

Sirius growled at him, but soon he was back to enjoying the parade with the rest of them.

About halfway through the parade, James pulled Remus aside so they could talk without the other two overhearing. Not that they were paying attention to anything but the parade… "Remus, I'm thinking the holiday is over. Don't you agree?"

Remus laughed quietly for a moment. "I think the world just came to a stop. James Potter being mature?"

James shoved at his friend, but he began to laugh as well. "Yeah, well, the past year did teach me a few things…"

Remus snorted. "Like what? Never leave Sirius alone for a second?"

The two sobered. It certainly hadn't been the best of years. The usual war with the Slytherins had already been out of control before Sirius's little "prank" on Snape, and after… If they wanted to have any hopes for their final year, perhaps it was time to grow up a bit.

Shaking himself out of introspection, James turned to Remus. "So, will you help me convince Sirius tonight that it's time to go home? You know that he'd stay right up to August thirty-first if we let him."

Remus grinned ruefully and nodded, then the two turned back to watch the rest of the parade.

* * *

Sirius made a point to watch the people around him at the parade. So many little children were laughing and cheering for their favourite characters as they made their way down the parade route. It made him feel warm inside to see their happiness. When he looked more carefully at the parade itself, he couldn't help but be impressed with the ways Muggles thought of to do things without magic. How could the lights on their cloths be lit when he could see no way that they were plugged in? He'd read about a few Muggle inventions over his years at school, and electrical lighting had been one of them. But he thought he'd read that lights always had a plug. However they'd done it, it was utterly fascinating. 

He'd never known Muggles could have such amazing forms of entertainment without any magic whatsoever. It gave him a whole new respect for them. When the parade ended, he turned to see his friends smiling behind him. "So, do we want to watch the fireworks from the same place as last night? We'd better go now if we do," he said while turning to walk towards the castle.

"Wait!" James called out as he walked up to Sirius. "We need to talk. Remus and I were talking and we think two days here has been enough. We've seen everything and done everything. We don't want to get bored of this place and leave here feeling disappointed, right? It's better to go off while feeling satisfied and happy, wouldn't you agree?" he asked quietly.

"But…but…I don't want to go back home yet," Sirius replied. "This has been so much fun."

"But school starts in a couple weeks, mate," Remus jumped in.

"And it's not like the park is going anywhere. It'll still be here for another trip sometime," Peter chimed in.

Sirius looked at his friends and knew there was no way to convince them to stay any longer. If he insisted on staying, he would end up staying all alone, which would be no fun at all.

By the time they made their way to the castle to watch the fireworks, Sirius had made up his mind. He sighed sadly before speaking. "All right, we can go. But…let's make a promise to do this again, all right? We'll be leaving school after this year and getting jobs and all that, so we'll probably be busy for a while, but let's all agree, that in five years from now, we'll come back. And if we're married with kids by then, we'll bring our families, too. How does that sound?"

Each of the boys mulled this over while watching the fireworks. One by one, they all agreed to it. Peter was the last to agree. "I'm sure I'll have nothing important going on then," he replied grumpily during the finale.

Sirius desperately wanted things to stay as they were, but he knew this was the time in their lives when things would be changing rapidly, and in some cases, they would be completely out of their control. But perhaps not all the changes would be negative. Sirius smiled sadly. "No mate, you'll probably be married to a nice girl by then. Remus too. James…will probably be married with at least one or two kids. You'll all probably have kids by then. As for me…I'll bring my latest girlfriend. This will be a lot of fun," he assured his friends, grinning. "Trust me!"

* * *

Though the idea had come from James, Remus, too, was ready to leave. Sure, he'd promised to give Sirius a week, but really, two days was more than enough. As they finished watching the parade, Remus wondered how Sirius would take it. But he simply couldn't afford to stay any longer—for a number of reasons. 

The disappointed look on Sirius's face almost made him change his mind. The only thing that kept him from caving was the fact that the full moon was coming, and he didn't want to be here when that happened. He doubted there would be any place that would be quite able to restrain a fully-grown werewolf here. So he stood his ground, and watched Sirius come round to James's point of view.

As they walked to the fireworks, the group was silent. He knew the others were lost in their memories of what had happened over the past two days. He knew he'd never forget it. And as for the idea that they could all come back in five years…Well, you never knew, right? Though Remus personally thought the idea that he might have kids was a bit optimistic on Sirius's part. Sure, James would. He was made to have a family. A whole group of boys. Maybe seven, so he could have his own little Quidditch team. And all with his messy black hair and glasses. Well, maybe one or two with red hair. After all, he knew that Evans didn't hate James nearly as much as she let on. Not that he was going to tell James that.

Remus was sure Sirius was right about Peter, too. He just needed to find the right girl. And Sirius would probably have a revolving door on whatever flat he bought himself after they left school. He looked forward to seeing how many hearts Sirius would break over the years.

But Remus would be alone again. How could he give his heart to anyone when he became a monster once a month? And even if he did meet someone who could accept him for who he was, the Ministry regulations about werewolves mating and marrying kept him from being able to marry anyone.

Still, at least he'd have James's, Peter's, and eventually even Sirius's kids to be "Uncle Remus" to. Maybe that could be enough.

As they watched the finale, Remus allowed himself to forget, just this once. For a few more hours, at least. The fireworks helped.

* * *

Peter was both happy and sad to be leaving. It would be good to get back to England and home, but he'd had so much fun at Disneyland. Much more so than he'd ever imagined when he'd agreed to come on the trip. 

When the fireworks ended, the boys slowly began their walk to the exit. He saw how reserved Remus was. Peter wondered what was wrong. Perhaps it was what Sirius had said about what they'd all be up to five years from now. It reminded him of his own uncertainty for the future. He knew it was wishful thinking to believe that he'd be married to anyone. Most likely he'd be alone and living in some small flat somewhere, not making anything of his life. It was quite a depressing thought. He wondered if anything good would ever come to him in the future, but seriously doubted it. He wasn't lucky in the way that James and Sirius, and even Remus were.

Peter hung back for a minute until he was walking next to Remus. They walked side-by-side in silence while approaching the arches. Finally he spoke, sounding more hopeful for the future than he really felt. "Remus, mate, don't give up hope. Things are changing a lot in our world right now. Things could work out for the best for all of us," he smiled, assuring his friend. Just because Remus couldn't do certain things at the moment, didn't mean he'd never be able to. And though Peter had little enough hope for his own future, he could at least reassure his friend.

Remus smiled sadly as he looked up to see the arches they were walking through to leave the main part of the park. As they walked toward the car park, he finally responded quietly. "We can only hope so, right?"

Peter gently patted Remus on the shoulder. "I guess so." With that, the four boys walked back to their hotel where they dreamed of the future and what it would bring.

_"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy."_

_-Plaque on one of the arches into Disneyland._


End file.
